The plural of corn

Joanna and I love language, and many of our conversations and inside jokes tend to drift toward wordplay and linguistic quirks. Weeding corn the other day, I came up with an especially interesting grammatical oddity that might be of interest. Perhaps one of the several English professors that read this have an explanation?

Consider that, in English, there are generally three kinds of plurals. Either you add an "s" (road, roads), you change the word (mouse, mice), or nothing changes (deer, deer). But what about a word like "corn"? Easy, right? It's like deer; there's no such thing as corns, at least when talking about the grain.

But now consider the whole sentence: "Look at all this corn". Even when it's plural, it's singular. This corn, not these corn. Implied is some modifier, like this patch of corn. We don't say look at "this deer", implying a herd. Talking it over, we realized this is true for almost all grain products. Corn, wheat, rye, etc... no one ever says "look at these wheat" in the way they would say "look at these tomatoes". Or if they do, it's only with a modifier like "look at these wheat plants".

Thinking it over more, I realized it's a grammatical structure used for many nouns describing small particles always handled in bulk. Consider that "sand" and "gravel" work the same way; who grabs a handful at the beach and says "look at these sands" the way they might "look at these pebbles"? "Get those rocks off my lawn" is fine, but "get those gravels off my lawn" sounds absurd. Implied is "grains of", but it's never spoken and ends up feeling very strange grammatically.

Can anyone think of other instances where a noun is plural but used in the singular, even when referring to just a few of the noun? And does anyone have an idea about why this usage would have evolved just in this instance?

Congratulations to young Columbia chefs

One of the coolest things about Columbia is the Career Center's Culinary Arts Program for high school students. Recently two of those students placed fantastically well in national competition, one first place and one second place, the highest ever achieved by Missouri students.

Most local readers probably already learned this from other sources, but I wanted to post it here as well to brag to out-of-towners and to continue the well-earned accolades for all involved. It's a source of real pride that our area can continue to develop excellent chefs with good connections to local foods; the folks at CACC have always been strong supporters of local farmers and the market. Many graduates at this program have moved on to real jobs in Columbia and elsewhere, just the kind of thing that proper education should result in.

From the Tribune:

Rachel Koppelman, who graduated from Rock Bridge earlier this month, earned first in the nation in the Skills USA Culinary Arts section. She earns a full-ride scholarship to her choice of the following schools: Culinary Institute of America, Johnson and Wales University, New England Culinary Institute, or Le Cordon Bleu Schools of North America.

Meghan Hardman, who will be a senior at Rock Bridge, placed second in the Commercial Baking category. She likely will receive many scholarship offers, Harlan said.

Show Me Eats has the original announcement.

Our thorough congratulations to everyone involved.

Serious rain

So we received .44" of rain through late afternoon from various light storms, just about right for the crops. Then, on the tail end of the system moving through, a big cell built up out of nowhere that briefly had a severe warning for up to quarter-size hail. It went right over us, no hail, but dumped 1.97" more in a very short time. Got some nice flooding going on in the stream and in our basement. It's already gone from the radar, collapsing as fast as it built. The NWS radar map estimates it dumped 2.5" at the very center of its track, so even we got a bit lucky. As a registered weather spotter, I called in our total to the NWS and received a suitably impressed response. Although, it won't do much good since the cell is already gone.

That's just a bit more rain than we needed. But at least it came all at once; better this than .5" every day for five days. This will still dry out over the next few sunny days post-cold front. But, yeah, some overkill there.

Market plans, 6/26

OK, so last week I was completely wrong on my market prediction. It was not a "small stand", it was our best market of the year so far. We ended up with far more beets than I thought, the full harvest of carrots was quite a pile, the snow pea harvest ended up being larger than expected...and I looked like a fool. Well, it WILL be smaller this week, but not for long as most of our summer items are growing nicely.

NEW THIS WEEK
Possibly the first few pints of Fin de Bagnol filet beans; these are starting to produce and may have enough for a small market harvest.

ALSO AVAILABLE
Bundles of small-medium beets, Swiss chard, kohlrabi, snow peas (at their end), mixed summer squash, fresh garlic heads, and scallions.

POSSIBLE IF WE DECIDE TO
There is a chance of items like basil, cilantro, parsley, and fennel bulbs depending on last-minute decisions.

FINISHED
Carrots were a one-time item. Clearly people want carrots, and every year we get better at growing them. We're doing more this fall, when they should be sweeter and even better. Peas are done after this week, because the plants stopped flowering in the heat.

COMING SOON
Fennel is close, likely next week if not this one. Fin de Bagnol beans for sure next week. Cucumbers and tomatillos are flowering now. Much more on the way for mid-summer.

Random updates & events

Joanna found this gray tree frog hanging out in the prep shed; they're very friendly and extremely photogenic. It even took a flying leap onto my face at one point, and hung there from my forehead quite contentedly until Joanna stopped laughing long enough to peel it off again.

Garlic harvest has truly begun; we were up until 10:30 last night cleaning, sorting, labelling, and hanging the first round. This is an early shot; there are now at least 200 of our 2,000 heads hanging in the barn. Garlic takes time for us because we grow so many different varieties (12 this year, I believe). You can't easily tell them apart by sight, so each type has to be handled separately until it can be graded and bundled with a label applied, and then hung in an organized manner so we can find the right variety and grade when we need it.

Mike Odette at Sycamore has been asking us for baby squash with blossoms, small and fresh enough to stuff the blossom with goat cheese and deep-fry. This was our first attempt at harvesting what he wanted, delivered on Tuesday. I haven't heard back from him yet as to whether he liked them; I hope so. If not, we'll learn and try again.

Using zucchini (& other summer squash)

It's zucchini day here on the blog; Joanna went a little crazy in the heat and wrote up/collected lots of ways to use abundant summer squash. Enjoy -Eric

Summer is here, and so are zucchini. Here's a collection of our favorite ways to use substantial quantities of zucchini and other summer squash. Any summer squash (green, yellow, straight, patty pan, round, etc.) can be used interchangeably in these recipes. The ribbed Costata Romanesco squash have extra nice flavor, so we favor using those in dishes where they really stand out, as for a simple side dish of skillet-cooked zucchini or for zucchini on the grill.

Zucchini soup: This is a favorite recipe of ours. Joanna grew up with a version of this, and we've tweaked the recipe over the years to make it more vegetarian friendly and less dependent on bacon for flavor. We freeze many, many quarts of this and use it as fast food during the rest of the year. Good straight or served over some kind of cooked grain (rice, buckwheat, quinoa, etc.).

Zucchini cookies: These are tasty, moist cookies packed with raisins and nuts. They freeze well.

Zucchini bread: There are infinite versions of this, but this is our standard recipe.

Disappearing zucchini orzo: A tasty meal that can be on the table in under half an hour. From Barbara Kingsolver's wonderful book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.

Zucchini chocolate chip cookies: Also from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.

Frozen shredded zucchini: Many of the above recipes involve baking, something that doesn't always sound appealing at summer temperatures. Zucchini bread & cookies can be baked with frozen shredded zucchini, extending the season for these items year round. We simply grate the zucchini, pack it into quart containers or bags, and put it in the freezer. We defrost it in the refrigerator for a couple of days before using, drain some of the liquid, and bake as normal. Frozen, shredded zucchini also makes a nice addition to winter soups/stews.

Recipe: zucchini cookies

Any type of summer squash can be used in these moist, tasty cookies. This recipe makes a big batch, so think twice before doubling. Extras freeze well.

4¼ cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
½ -1 tsp cloves, ground
1 tsp salt
2-3 cups grated zucchini/summer squash (approx. 2 medium squash)
1½ -2 cups sugar
½ cup butter
½ cup yogurt
2 eggs
1 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped
2 cups raisins

• Preheat oven to 375ºF.

• Pull butter out of refrigerator and allow it to warm up for a few minutes.
• In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves, and salt.
• In a large bowl, cream butter, sugar, and yogurt. Use a large wooden spoon if doing this by hand. Add eggs and combine thoroughly.
• Add zucchini to wet ingredients and mix.
• Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Stir just enough to combine.
• Fold in nuts and raisins.
• Drop batter by the spoonful on greased cookie sheets.
• Bake 12-15 minutes, until lightly browned.

Recipe: zucchini bread

Everyone has a favorite zucchini bread recipe. This is ours.

3 cups flour (up to 50% whole wheat flour)
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
1½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp salt
½ cup oil (such as canola)
½ cup yogurt
1½ cups sugar (or 1 cup sugar & 1/2 cup honey)
3 eggs
zest from 2 small lemons
1½ tsp vanilla
2-3 cups grated zucchini/summer squash (approx. 2 medium squash)
1 cup raisins
2/3 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped


• Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

• Grease and flour 2 loaf pans or one bundt pan.
• In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.
• In a large bowl, combine wet ingredients. Cream oil, sugar, and yogurt. Add eggs and combine. Mix in vanilla, lemon zest, and zucchini.
• Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until just combined.
• Fold in raisins and nuts.
• Transfer batter to pan(s).
• Bake 45-60 minutes for loaf pans, or closer to 70 minutes for a bundt pan, until toothpick comes out clean. [Sorry for the vague cooking times; we typed up this recipe when we were living in National Park Service housing with very unreilable ovens, and I never seem to remember to remember to write down the actual cooking time in a well-behaved oven.]
• Cool for ten minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a wire rack.

Farm projects, late June

Here are some of the many tasks occupying us this time of year:

--Weeding. This is never-ending, especially with the abundant rainfall this year. Mostly we're on top of it, though some of the aisles between beds are looking pretty jungle-like. Employees have been a big (and good-natured) help on this front. Overall things look pretty good.

--Harvest. We're past the once-a-week stage that characterizes spring, when you just have to cut lettuces, pull radishes, and so on before market. Items like peas, green beans, edamame, squash, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, and more need to be checked regularly to get things at peak freshness and quality. We generally follow a 36-48 hour harvest schedule, though summer squash will need to be near-daily. Sunday-Tuesday items go to restaurants, and Tuesday-Friday items go to Saturday market.

We're about to begin the garlic harvest, which is a major undertaking over about three weeks. Each variety is pulled, sorted into four grades, bundled, and hung to cure. Overall we have a couple thousand heads in the ground, about a quarter of which will become this fall's planting stock. For the next few weeks we'll bring fresh green garlic heads to market, then transition to cured heads once the harvest is complete.

--Preparing fall plantings. Believe it or not, it's already time to start planning for fall, as many of the things we'll be selling September-November need to get started soon. Fall is a major sales season for us, and takes a lot of mid-summer work when it's too hot out. Working out the exact planting plans, and starting the first transplants indoors, is now on the agenda.

--Finishing other projects. I'm almost done building the much-needed walk-in cooler, hoping to have it operational on a trial basis by this weekend. We still have three geese to butcher, though it's too hot right now. We'd like to finish mowing/trimming the roads, paths, and aisles around the farm, which we can do bit by bit before getting too hot.

--Food preservation. We're now entering the season of abundance, when along with all the farm work we need to put in time preserving our winter food supply. We've already been freezing peas, beet greens, and so on, but now that squash are arriving with tomatoes, beans, and more on the way, canning & freezing will take more and more time. We also rely on local sources for the vast majority of our fruit, so for much of the summer I'll be coming home from market with loads of cherries, peaches, apples, and so on to preserve. This is often an uncomfortably hot task in a hot summer kitchen, but needs to be done.

--Irrigation. As recently noted, I eventually need to start laying out and hooking up irrigation. Procrastination and irrigation are virtually synonymous in my brain.

Dealing with irrigation

Of the various infrastructures needed to make a vegetable farm work, irrigation systems are my least favorite by far. They're nearly essential, but just a complete pain. This is partly because of certain ethical/business choices we've made, which I will discuss below. Otherwise I just don't like fussing with lots of components that need to fit and work just right, take a lot of time, and aren't always necessary.


The source of water for irrigation matters a lot. County water lines are most reliable and give good pressure, but cost money which can really add up at the acre scale. Private wells are nice, but very expensive to drill if you don't already have one, and have you at the mercy of the pump and other conditions. Drawing water from ponds is cheapest, but still requires some form of pump (gas, electric) which will also cost money to run and may be unreliable when you need it most. Ponds also put you at greatest risk of contaminated water, such as if wild or domestic fowl use your pond frequently and that water is piped right onto your lettuce. This is also true for farms that wash produce with water from a similar source. For organic certification, you have to do regular water tests to prove your water is clean, unless it's coming from an already clean source like county water lines (which we use).


Irrigation in the field can be achieved in many forms. Easiest are the various forms of sprinkler, which can be set up with a simple garden hose and arranged to cover a wide area, then moved as needed. Multiple sprinklers, larger area covered. The major downside here is water efficiency, as they will lose a lot to wind, evaporation, and spotty coverage. Plus, it's impossible to avoid watering aisles and other areas that don't need it, and hard to target specific crops. Sprinklers are a great option for a small home garden, but can use a helluva lot of water at the acre scale. This is both an ethical concern, and an economic one if your water costs money of any form.

Various forms of drip irrigation are another answer. These involve plastic hoses with holes in them to let water out. The simplest really are just holey; fancier ones have pressure regulators at each opening so that the same flow emerges along the entire length, rather than losing pressure along a long line. These also come in various lifespans, from cheaper drip tapes that need to be thrown out every year, to heavier-duty hoses that can last up to five years. Here, too, are the ethical/economic concerns: do you save time and bother by using the cheap disposable hoses every year (acres of vegetables take a LOT of plastic hose), or do you invest in the long-term stuff which is far more work to carefully roll up in the fall and store properly every winter, but keeps your dumpster empty? Longer-term hose is also more subject to frost damage, a particular concern in our frost-prone valley.

When we started the farm four years ago, we invested in enough heavy-duty irrigation line to handle the market garden area. In 2007, this was a great call, as we had a very dry summer in which the farm recorded no meaningful rainfall from mid-June through mid-October. Since then, we've had two straight cool/wet years in which we never needed irrigation other than using hand-held hoses to moisten new seedbeds & transplants. This year, I fully expect to need irrigation at some point as I think it will be a hotter and drier (more typical) growing season, and we're expanding our growing area significantly every year, so we'll have some things to figure out.

When it comes to farm management overall, we absolutely refuse to use disposable materials like black plastic, one-year drip line, and so on. We've proud of the minimal waste stream coming off the farm, and of the smaller budget that results from not buying such things. So our irrigation choices will likely involve some combination of heavier-duty drip lines and sprinklers. We also use other methods to minimize water loss and need, such as heavy mulching on many beds to hold in moisture.

Still, as we enter a long hot spell, I can't put off dealing with irrigation much longer. It's always tempting to keep waiting, hoping for rain, in order to save a lot of time and effort. That's what happened the last two years. With 1.5 acres under cultivation, though, we need to get this year's system set up before it becomes an emergency and we spend all our time standing out there with a hose. So that becomes a looming project very soon.

Recipe: pasta with beets

This tasty and colorful pasta is a great way to use early summer beets.

1 bunch beets
1–2 Tbl butter
1 Tbl. cider vinegar
1 Tbl. olive oil
2 cloves garlic or alliums of choice
~2 ounces cheese, crumbled or grated
1 bunch chives (optional)
1/2 pound pasta of choice

Thinly slice (or grate) the beet roots. Heat butter in a skillet on low-medium heat. Add beets and cook until tender, ~10–15 min. Season with cider vinegar, salt, and pepper. Remove from heat & set aside.

Meanwhile, heat a large pot of water for the pasta. Check the recommended cooking time for the pasta. The goal is to time the pasta so it finishes cooking when the greens are done.

Mince the garlic. Wash the beet greens and slice into thin ribbons. Mince chives, if using. Start to cook the pasta in salted, boiling water.

Heat olive oil in a skillet on low heat. Eight or so minutes before the pasta is done, sauté the garlic in the oil for a minute or so. Add the greens & cook until tender, approx. 4-6 minutes. Add the cheese & chives (if using).

When the pasta is al dente, drain it. Toss beets, greens, and pasta together. Serve with extra cheese.

Market plans, 6/19

This week will be a small market stand, deep in the "June transition" from spring to summer items. There will be a few neat items this week, though not many of them. Peas are on their way out; we'll have just a few snap peas and a decent harvest of snows, but no promises for next week. In this heat, peas just stop flowering.

NEW THIS WEEK
We'll have a one-time batch of carrots. These were interplanted with our radishes, and now need to come out to make room for okra. So we'll harvest the whole batch and bring them in. Should be a nice treat for those who get them.

Also new will be some green garlic heads, the first harvest of the year. Again, we probably won't bring lots, but enough to start the garlic season properly.

ALSO AVAILABLE
Swiss chard, baby/pickling beets, scallions, summer squash, a few kohlrabi (these have been amazing so far), snow peas, a few snap peas, a few bundles of cilantro.

Probably a few more things my heat-addled brain isn't thinking of right now. You get the idea.

Farm-fresh tabbouleh

Joanna threw this together earlier in the week, using a wonderfully diverse collection of farm produce. Tabbouleh is such an easy dish to make, and so refreshing as a cool summer salad. There are tons of varieties, so I don't really need to post a specific recipe here. I just want to highlight the diversity of farm products in this batch:

Garlic scapes
Garlic cloves
Broccoli
Scallions (two varieties)
Snap peas
Baby squash (three varieties)
Kohlrabi
Carrots
Parsley (three varieties)
Basil
Mint
Dried tomatoes (from last year)
Goat's milk ricotta

All this, chopped and combined with bulghur, olive oil, and red wine vinegar. That's 18 varieties of 13 kinds of produce, plus on-farm milk. Yummy.

Oh, and for those who care about biodiversity, that's at least seven biological familes:
Alliums (garlic, onions)
Legumes (peas)
Cucurbits (zukes)
Umbelliferae (carrot family)
Solanaceae (tomato family)
Brassicas (broccoli et al.)
Lamiaceae (mint)

Our goose is cooked

We've decided we're done raising geese. They're too much work, too much mess, too destructive of anything they find to chew on that isn't grass, and don't generate nearly enough value. 30 eggs a year does not pay for their upkeep, and they have not been successful at raising broods of young that could be sold as meat geese. So they will be butchered over the next few weeks, as we find time. We did the first of four last Tuesday, and spent a delicious week using it in all sorts of ways. The meat was somewhat tough, as you'd expect in an older bird, but very flavorful.

The goose broke down into:

2 breasts

2 legs

3 gallons of stock

Giblets (heart, liver, gizzard)

Random shredded meat from the rest of the carcass

We used some of the stock to cook large batches of black beans and our own cowpeas, a trick that makes any dried legume extra-tasty. Then we combined and recombined various items into a set of good meals:

THE LEGS

I marinated these in dark beer with juniper berries, peppercorns, caraway seeds, and our own dried tomatoes & onions. Slow-baked in this liquid, it turned out well. For the last ten minutes, I added to the oven a baking dish of pre-cooked rice and cowpeas layered with our own shredded goats-milk cheddar. Then I served it all with a side of garlic scapes, snow peas, and greens sauteed in olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

THE GIBLETS

These, I slow-cooked in a sauce of stock, carrots, onions, garlic, parsley, and more. I had meant to make a roux and thicken the sauce into a true gravy, but ran out of time and patience so just poured the liquid over the rice & cowpeas we used on the side. This was an amazing flavor, and all the organs cooked to a nice texture and flavor. We also sauteed some baby zucchini as a side dish.

BREAST #1

I brined both breasts, soaking them for several days in a saline solution with cinnamon and a few other spices. The first one I rubbed with honey, then roasted surrounded by chopped vegetables like carrots, garlic scapes, beets, and green garlic heads. A bit tough, but delicious.

BREAST #2

For this one, I made a batch of tomatillo salsa from our home-canned tomatillos, dried hot peppers, garlic scapes, cilantro, and my personal spice mix. Then I slathered the salsa onto the breast, and stuck it in the oven. Meanwhile, I heated up some of the broth-cooked black beans with chopped garlic scapes, cilantro, spices, and more. When the breast was cooked, I carefully sliced it into the thinnest wafers I could, and arranged them on a plate with tomatillo salsa and black beans topped with farm-fresh goat cheese. We had intended to make tortillas to go underneath, but didn't get around to it. It worked fine just on a plate. Again, the breast was a bit tough but the flavor was amazing.

STOCK

Some of this was frozen for future use, some went into the beans, and Joanna made an egg-drop soup with the rest.

SHREDDED MEAT

The rest of the random shredded meat went into a tomato-vegetable-cowpea soup and added a nice touch of flavor and texture.

And that's how we got many days' worth of enjoyable meals from one goose that outstayed its welcome.

Restaurant sales this week

Fun story from market: a customer walked by, saw the garlic scapes on the stand, and exclaimed, "Oh my goodness, I had those at Bleu the other day for my birthday! They were amazing!". It seems they'd been served on a steak, and she was thrilled to learn the source (and bought some for herself). Nice job, Bleu. I shared that story with Ben when I called this week, and he enjoyed it. And bought two more pounds.

Snap peas, snow peas, and Swiss chard all went to Sycamore this week, and Mike is pressing for news of our baby squash with blossoms (starting to form, should be available next week). Also delivered snap peas and greens onions to Main Squeeze.

Thanks to everyone for making this farm-table connection work in the real world.

Worker CSA shares

Despite multiple inquiries and requests, we don't offer a CSA for these reasons. However, it's something we'd consider in the future, and this year's employment model is offering us a great opportunity to test out the CSA approach. With four current workers (a new person just started on Sunday) and possibly a fifth (coming out to visit/interview on Tuesday), it's giving us a taste of the different skills and planning needed to provide a consistently useful and interesting set of farm products.

The early spring was naturally a slow start, but in the last week or two we've really been able to pay folks properly in food. If memory serves, Sunday's worker went home with:

1 bundle small carrots

1 bundle small beets

1/2 lb cooking greens

1lb snap/snow peas

3 large green onions

1 bundle garlic scapes

1 bundle Swiss chard

2 bunches cilantro

1 gallon fresh goat milk

She could have taken eggs, too, but felt she had enough on hand at the moment, and we forgot to offer kohlrabi. Doing the math, this "share" totals to right about $30 retail, which is a fair equivalent for four hours work, and also a pretty typical weekly total for a good CSA's full share. From now through fall, we should have no trouble keeping people fed & paid.

We haven't wanted to combine both a market stand and a real CSA, as that's too much work, but so far we really like having this worker-CSA. It adds value to our produce without detracting from market sales, gets lots more work done, and makes the kind of personal connections with the farm that market sales can't. It means a lot to have a set of people who are really invested in the farm, and enjoy coming out here to help. And it's something we can continue to expand if necessary to support and develop our market presence without costing us much money. We hope it continues to work as well as it seems to so far.

Non profits in farming

Recently the Columbia Tribune published a story on a struggling non-profit farm in the area, Jefferson Farm & Garden. Despite receiving almost $2 million in Federal grants and private donations, the educational farm hasn't opened to visitors in several years. It claims to be doing almost exactly the same thing we are, only for "educational" purposes. It really irks me that so much money is available to non-commercial enterprises when real businesses have to scratch for a living; I could sure hire a lot of workers and expand our production with seven figures of free money. For the record, here's the response I posted on the Tribune's web site. I've had people come up to me at the market and thank me for saying what I said, so I figured it's worth re-posting here:

The following is not meant as a comment directly on JF&G, but more on the general pattern of how our society treats non-profits and actual businesses. As the co-owner (with my wife) of a small, direct-market certified organic vegetable farm in Boone County, I am somewhat bemused by the resources and budget available to a non-profit doing essentially the same thing we are.
We grow over 200 varieties of produce, fruit, beans, and small grains, along with poultry and meat & dairy goats. Over the last 4 years, we’ve invested most of our resources in our farm (including our private residence), the total sum of which is considerably less than the initial federal earmark for JF&G. Our business continues to grow and now has four (very) part-time employees. We sell our products at the Columbia Farmers Market, generating and remitting sales tax revenue. We pay property taxes on our land and home, and income taxes on our profits. We happily offer tours of our diversified operation, at $8/head to cover our basic time expenditure to do so. From what I’ve read, there is little one could learn from touring JF&G that could not be learned from touring private farms like ours.

We work very hard at our business and are proud of our success so far, though our long term economic success is by no means guaranteed. We do not apply for or receive any grants, subsidies, or handouts for our farm. The only government money we’ve ever taken is the Missouri cost-share program for our Organic certification, which pays up to 75% of certification costs (capped at $750; ours was under $400 last year).

So I am bemused to read that a non-profit farm can receive millions of dollars of tax-free money, use volunteer labor (technically illegal for a private business like ours), pay no taxes itself, and still be $3 million short. I know multiple good folks in Boone County who have the skills, experience, work ethic, and active desire to start small market/CSA farms, but who do not have the capital to do so because it is very difficult to get a loan for such a business. $500,000 would buy five of these folks 10 acres each, even at an inflated Boone County price of $10,000/acre, enabling them to start five new tax-generating businesses that would diversify our rural economy.

I have nothing really personal against JF&G, it’s a nice idea which could become a good tourist attraction if done well. But I do resent our society’s and government’s general assumption that non-profits are always preferable and more knowledgeable than private entrepreneurs doing the same thing on their own bootstraps. It’s frustrating to see money showered on anything that doesn’t commit the cardinal sin of actually trying to earn money. It’s also frustrating to know that we could earn a better salary working for a non-profit farm than for ourselves; the only volunteers allowed a for-profit business are the owners.

Market plans, 6/12

We're deep in the June transition between spring and summer. This time of year, we're always scrounging for interesting things to bring to market, and are often surprised at what we end up with. Here's our best guess as to what we'll decide on tomorrow after viewing the situation and finishing the harvest.

NEW THIS WEEK

Swiss Chard, bundled. We've had baby chard in various forms for a few weeks, but full-size bundled chard will make its first appearance. We hope it sells; we're not overly fond of chard flavor ourselves, but we've had people ask for it, so we expanded into it this year. We will probably have the first bundles of beets, mostly smaller pickling types with tasty greens. Scallions should make their first appearance as well. Summer squash are are just beginning, and we're likely to have the first few this week.

ALSO AVAILABLE

Lots of snap and snow peas; this is probably the peak of our production. This would be a good week to make tasty stir fries and salads with lots of fresh peas. From here they'll start tailing off for a few weeks more. Herbs in small quantities, including cilantro. This will be the last week for garlic scapes; make and freeze some scape pesto while you can. It goes wonderfully with pasta and Asian dishes.

COMING SOON

Hopefully more beets will swell into full-size roots; we have a lot planted but they don't always mature properly. Kohlrabi should be ready next week; an early specimen we enjoyed this week had a wonderfully sweet flavor and crisp, tender texture. Green garlic heads will also appear next week, as we enter the month-long marathon that is garlic harvesting.

2010 Organic inspection

We're about to have our official annual Organic certification inspection, scheduled for this Thursday, June 10. Last year our initial inspection happened in early April, because the certifier understood we were eager to start using the word and symbol officially, but inspectors would rather visit later in the season so there's more to be seen. Thus the June date this year.

We shouldn't be nervous. We're certainly following the actual agricultural practices dictated by the NOP standards, and they won't find any faults there (no violations of inputs or anything like that). But the record-keeping and other details of remaining certified are difficult to manage, and we have to be able to prove to an inspector's standards that we're doing everything right. That is, after all, the point of certification: it's an independent audit that relies on more than the farmer's word.

The official certification notice indicated that there will be multiple audits of our paper trail, meaning (I think) that the inspector will attempt to track several products seed-to-sale through our records, which is what we're supposed to be able to prove. This is one of those requirements which is pretty easy for a large, one-crop farm and very difficult for a small, 200+ variety farm. We go to great lengths to keep such records, as they are extremely important for our own planning purposes, among other things. But records are imperfect. Getting a complete picture of harvest quantities is difficult when we've mixed units, sometimes recording weights and sometimes volumes, without always having good conversion factors. And I've found places where I've just plain made mistakes writing things down; we're human, it happens.

So it will be interesting to see how this goes.

More help wanted

If you're interested in working for a small farm, or know someone who is, read on. Our employee model is working well overall, but we've decided we need more. One person's work schedule has changed and he won't be able to come regularly any more, and beyond that we'd consider yet another worker if possible.

As a reminder, we pay our employees above the table, filling out an I-9 and reporting the pay total at the end of the year. Per IRS rules, we pay in cash-equivalent farm products, including produce, eggs, and raw milk (for cheese/yogurt-making only, not direct consumption). We expect employees to work four hours a week, in return for roughly $30 worth of products. In effect, it's a working CSA with a full weekly share.

We need someone(s) who can commit to this weekly schedule at least through August, possibly through September or longer, with few exceptions. One model that's worked very well is for a couple to work a 2-hour shift together after work, thus earning a total of 4 hours worth, but making it more accessible for busy people with other jobs. Our current couple seem to really enjoy the chance to get together after work and get their hands in the soil for a few hours; consider this with your partner. It's better than a gym membership!

We are primarily interested in someone who can work Sunday mornings from 8-12, but would also consider most weeknights such as 4-6 or 6-8 for couples. Other weekly slots might include Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday mornings from 8-12. The work may be boring, hard, and repetitive, and in any weather but lightning.

Get in touch if you're interested; you'll be fed very well and have access to many interesting items that don't make it to our market stand (such as the fresh strawberries we offered for a few weeks in-season).

contactus@cherthollowfarm.com

573-474-0989

Market plans, 6/5

Our stand will be noticeably different this week as we're really in transition from spring products into early summer. Joanna will be selling for us this week, so don't be confused by the missing beard.

New this week:

Snow peas. Delicious sauteed with chopped garlic scapes or used in stir fries. We like them raw, too.

Also available:

Snap peas, garlic scapes, chard leaves, herbs.

Last chance:

This will be the last week for radishes; we're finishing up our plantings and need the bed space for other items. This may be the last week for saute mix greens.

Coming soon:

Shelling peas should be ready by next week. When the garlic scapes finish, we'll start harvesting green garlic (perhaps in a week or two). Summer squash plants are beginning to flower, meaning that plenty of squash should follow shortly. Our small plantings of carrots and kohlrabi are nearing maturity, but we'll have to check the quality before deciding whether to sell them. Beets always seem to take forever, and they are sticking to that trend this year, but they usually begin to mature by mid-June.

UPDATE: The scape harvest was quite impressive today: roughly 12 pounds. They're really coming on fast with the heat. This would be a good week to plan ahead for an easy meal of pasta with scape pesto along with saute greens &/or peas. Extra scape pesto can go in the freezer for an easy future meal.

Restaurant sales

We initiated our 2010 restaurant season today with multiple deliveries in Columbia. Our plan this season is to make deliveries on Tuesdays, to take full advantage of regular harvests of items that are picked near-daily but we don't want to store all week for Saturday market.

This afternoon we delivered snap peas & garlic scapes to Sycamore, snap peas & snow peas to Main Squeeze, and garlic scapes to Tiger Hotel Catering. This last is a fun story; she called us about ten minutes before we left for town, asking about microgreens for an event tomorrow night. We didn't have any, but offered garlic scapes, and she jumped at the chance for 2lb worth, which was what we had left from the morning's harvest after packing up Sycamore's order. Good timing, Tiger.

We like restaurant sales, because they're easier and more efficient for us (no market time & fees), the product is of better quality (no sitting out on the market stand), it's tax-free, and it's cool to have our products on the menus of some of the area's best restaurants. The places we work with give us a really fair price, and we do our best to give them top-notch produce in return. We expect to make regular deliveries almost every week from now on through the season. Uprise, too, has bought a lot from us but often gets items at the market. Support & thank the folks at places like this who go out of their way to support farms like us.

And I have to say, it's a pretty cool feeling to walk into a place like Sycamore, carrying a large sack of snap peas harvested only hours before, and hand them over to Mike Odette knowing he'll do something very nice with them.